Dynamo's grass guru shares what it was like to prepare World Cup 2026 field

HOUSTON – When looking back at the FIFA World Cup 2026 games here in Houston, one topic everyone kept mentioning was how beautiful the stadium looked with a full grass field instead of the usual synthetic turf.

The Houston Dynamo’s Director of Sports Turf & Grounds, Dan Bergstrom, was part of a team that planned every aspect of having grass at the stadium seven years before the first match.

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His match-day schedule started around 2 a.m., and his team had to turn the field over to FIFA at 6 a.m. to begin rehearsals before the match later that day at Noon.

Dan believes it’s possible to have grass year-round at now-named Reliant Stadium but is aware of the cost it will have on the team and the NFL overall.